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Kansas Secretary of State Blocks Release of Voting Machine Tapes

Posted by timothy on from the don't-you-worry-your-pretty-little-head dept.

PvtVoid writes: Wichita State University statistician Beth Clarkson has filed a lawsuit under Kansas' open records law to force the state to release paper tape records from voting machines, to be used as data in her research on statistical anomalies in voting patterns in the state. Clarkson, a certified quality engineer with a Ph.D. in statistics, has analyzed election returns in Kansas and elsewhere over several elections that indicate 'a statistically significant' pattern where the percentage of Republican votes increase the larger the size of the precinct. The pattern could be voter fraud or a demographic trend that has not been picked up by extensive polling. Secretary of State Kris Kobach argued that the records sought by Clarkson are not subject to the Kansas open records act, and that their disclosure is prohibited by Kansas statute.

4 of 288 comments (clear)

  1. Poor excuse by mschaffer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So, if the government stores information in an inconvenient format, that makes it exempt from freedom of information requests?
    Pathetic.

  2. Re:In other words. by Joce640k · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yeah, when it's _us_ they're talking about it's all, "if you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to worry about".

    When it's _them_? That's a different story....

    --
    No sig today...
  3. Re:In other words. by SecurityGuy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There's a HUUUUUUUGE difference between the state asking for location data on a private citizen, and citizens asking to audit the state. The state exists to do the citizens' will and for the citizens benefit. A state's rights are granted to it BY the citizens, not the other way around.

    That said, data should be anonymized if it isn't already. When I vote, my ballot doesn't have any identifying information on it, so releasing records exactly as they were captured wouldn't tell you anything about me at all.

  4. So then... why bother with the bloody paper tapes? by Average · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If it's legally impossible to request a review of them, why bother with creating and storing the paper tapes in the first place?

    Which leads, I guess, to the next question. If it's legally impossible to review an election, why bother holding them in the first place?